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Frankness and self-reliance were, perhaps, the most prominent characteristics of Abdur Rahman’s nature. At the same time, he was a genial, strong, clever man of the world, well-informed upon all subjects of general interest, eloquent, resolute, logical and possessed of much innate humour and facility in repartee. Always alive to his own interests, he possessed no small capacity for intrigue; and his first bid for position in Afghanistan was as the nominee of the Russians, General Kauffman, the Russian GovernorGeneral of Turkestan, having arranged that he should be supplied with 200 breech-loading rifles, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, accoutrements for 100 horse and 100 footmen and 5000 Bokhara tillas (35,000 rupees). Yet, when he appeared across the border and arrived at a secret understanding with the Government of India about his nomination as Amir, he posed as the champion of his faith and
the liberator of the land from foreign domination, suppressing, in order to do this, all mention of his agreement with us and of his relations with Russia. Nevertheless, as soon as his own position was secure, he curtailed the influence of the mullahs.
It was no part of the Russian scheme that Abdur Rahman should go to Kabul. They had calculated that, as we were about to retire from Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman might drive out General Ghulam Haidar from Turkestan and establish himself as ruler. Later, if circumstances should permit and the British nominee at Kabul prove weak or incapable, they expected to strengthen their position there and, at last, to see all Northern Afghanistan under Russian occupation. With our acceptance of Abdur Rahman as Amir, he realised that the interests of himself, his dynasty and his country lay with us. Resolved to obtain all he could from the British Government, he was perfectly good humoured and contented when he found that all his demands could not be granted. He spoke of Russia with friendliness, and acknowledged his obligations to her for the seven years of hospitality that had been shown him. He absolutely denied any agreement with or dependence on her; and, making light of the circumstances under which he left Tashkent as also the instructions and assistance he had received, he preferred, with the aid of England, to reign as an independent sovereign. The results of his rule reveal an astonishing record of work done, and progress made, in the short space of twenty years. Amid constant anxiety and discouragement, surrounded by open enemies and secret traitors, with robber tribes to subdue, the whole machinery of administration to create, and with very few servants and officials who could sympathise with, carry out or even understand his schemes for the development and civilisation of his country, he yet achieved a signal and brilliant success, leaving it to his successor to cement the structure which he had put together with such labour and loving care or to wreck it altogether.
After addressing a variety of remarks upon the various interests in Kabul to his guests, Habib Ullah opened a general conversation in Persian, as that tongue is the language of the Court. Habib Ullah reads and speaks English, Arabic, Hindustani and Persian, but
considers the employment of English as undignified. At the beginning of the audience the Amir seemed preoccupied; but as he had just come from giving orders in connection with the welcome and entertainment of the Dane Mission, he presently talked of that event. He began by a graceful allusion to the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, and a complimentary reference to Lord Kitchener, in acknowledgment of the great interest these distinguished people took in the welfare of his state. Gradually he brought the conversation closer to his subject, likening Afghanistan to the position of a shield held at arm’s length against the enemies of India.
“If such a shield were thin as parchment,” said Habib Ullah, “a child could tear it. But if thick and strong were the shield it would resist all attempts; and it is my object to make this shield strong—so strong that it cannot be broken,” adding with parting reflection that he would discuss further the means of strengthening the shield when the Mission from India had arrived.
At this point in the interview Inayat Ullah Khan, the little prince who at a later date visited India, entered the chamber. Salaaming to his father he stood with the pages until given permission to be seated. Habib Ullah now turned the conversation to his gun accident, finding in the quick recovery that he had made under the skilful attention of Major Bird—physician to the late Viceroy and specially despatched in response to an urgent message from Kabul—a direct manifestation of the grace of Allah. In order that his guests should be in a position to inspect the injured limb the Amir rested his hand upon a table, which he himself drew up. Removing the glove the effects of the operation became apparent. At the moment that Major Bird had arrived in Kabul the hand had become very swollen. There was, also, a great accumulation of pus in the wounds, which it had been necessary to incise; while the terminal phalanx of the index finger, and part of the second phalanx of the middle finger of the left hand, had been removed. At the time of this audience Major Bird had returned to India. The wounds had healed; and the hand was perfectly healthy, although the joints were still stiff. The accident, which has made him look with greater toleration upon the wisdom of establishing in Kabul a permanent branch of the Indian medical
system, had been caused through the bursting of a sixty guinea, hammerless, 12-bore, double-barrel gun of English make. The Amir, on March 28, 1904, was snipe-shooting near the village of Khudadad and had shot twenty brace, when, as he was firing, the right barrel burst, a fragment an inch and a half in length being blown out. Fortunately the palm of the hand was well beneath the barrel, the injured fingers alone resting on the side—a position which explains the escape of the other portion of the hand.
Upon the conclusion of their examination of his hand by his visitors, the reception, which had occupied two hours in duration, terminated with a concluding remark upon the murder of Mr. Fleischer, an English-speaking German subject, who had been sent out from Krupp’s, to superintend the Kabul ordnance yards and workshops. Mr. Fleischer had remained in Kabul in charge of the arsenal until, returning to India to meet his wife and family, he was murdered by the risaldar of the escort that was taking him to Lundi Khana, the limit of Afghan territory in the direction of India. Habib Ullah defended the action of the murderer on the ground that, when a Mahommedan overhears his faith abused, he must kill himself or the traducer. Mr. Fleischer had not abused the Mahommedan religion, the foul deed arising out of a jealous intrigue between Mohammed Sarwar Khan, the official in charge of the Amir’s factories, and the risaldar, but set afoot by Habib Ullah’s practice of accepting complaints against foreign workmen without permitting them to make any explanation on their own behalf. Mr. Martin himself had suffered through having punished this same official, Mohammed Sarwar Khan, for gross insolence, and accordingly had left the Amir’s service. After his departure Mohammed Sarwar Khan plotted against Mr. Fleischer, finding in the latter’s visit to India an opportunity well suited to his purpose on account of the Amir’s hostility to Europeans. Accordingly Mohammed Sarwar Khan instructed the risaldar to provoke Mr. Fleischer in such a way that complaints by this worthy pair could be lodged with Habib Ullah against him.
The actual incident began on the evening of November 6, 1904, when, near the village of Basawul, a party of Europeans, proceeding
to Kabul from Peshawar, were joined at their encampment for the night by Mr. Fleischer and his caravan from Kabul. After dinner Mr. Fleischer discovered that the Europeans from India had not been provided with farrashes, whose duties it is to attend to the pitching and striking of tents in camp. As Mr. Fleischer was going in the morning to Lundi Kotal and would not require his farrashes, he sent a message to the risaldar to inform him that these men were to return to Kabul with the European party from India. The risaldar, on receipt of this message, replied that he would not be responsible for the tents which the Amir had loaned for the journey if the two farrashes were withdrawn. Mr. Fleischer then despatched his servant to tell the man to come to him, which order the risaldar refused to obey. Subsequently, later in the night, when Mr. Fleischer had gone back to his own camp, the fellow was again insubordinate. The next morning, November 7, Mr. Fleischer bade farewell to the Europeans and, proceeding on his way to India, was shot down a mile from Lundi Khana by the risaldar. News of the murder was conveyed to Dakka, the officer of that post going out to meet the risaldar. The newcomer inquired immediately whether there had been any witnesses of the crime, and, learning that it had been witnessed by two muleteers, he suggested that they should be shot too, at the same time guaranteeing to support any story that the risaldar should invent. The murderer did not attach any importance to the matter and declined the proposal, returning to Dakka as the guest of the officer of that fort.
Within a short time news reached the Governor of Jelalabad, who sent out to arrest the risaldar, reporting at the same time the deed to the Amir. To save his own “face” Habib Ullah issued orders that the murderer should be taken back to the scene of his crime and there shot, the escort, which he had commanded, together with his family, being cast into prison. The action of the Amir came as a complete surprise to the risaldar; before execution he explained that, had he known that the Amir would have regarded the shooting of a feringhee with such severity, he would have shot the two witnesses as well.
In appreciation of Mr Fleischer’s services the Amir went through the farce of announcing to the Government of India his intention of presenting the widow and her family with a pension. Many months have passed since then and no payment has been awarded, money being as difficult to screw out of Afghanistan as gold is from stones. Nevertheless, Mrs. Fleischer has appealed repeatedly, but without success, to the consideration of the Government of India and to the generosity of the Amir.
In spite of his amiability Habib Ullah does not possess a very secure seat upon his throne, the intrigues of the queen-mother and the jealousy of his brothers disturbing his position. Nor does he receive the confidence of his people or reveal sufficient strength of character to dominate the situation. Afghanistan needs the firm hand of a man, who is as much a maker as a ruler of men. Habib Ullah is weak-willed; and, in a country where the authority of the priest is a law in the land, his subserviency to priestly control and his subjection to the influence of his brother Nasr Ullah Khan have attracted universal attention. Nasr Ullah and the Queen Dowager, Bibi Halima, wife of the late Amir and the mother of Sirdar Mahommed Omar Jar Khan, are the stormy petrels in the Afghan sea of domestic politics. Habib Ullah in some measure understands the situation; and, doubtless, it is out of respect for their dignity that Bibi Halima and Omar Khan are closely protected by a strong detachment of the Imperial Bodyguard—so closely, indeed, that they are practically state prisoners.
It is more difficult for the Amir to assail the position occupied by Nasr Ullah, who was appointed commander-in-chief of the Afghan army in the early days of Habib Ullah’s accession. Little attempt therefore is made by the Amir to curb the masterful will of his brother. Nasr Ullah Khan, who has become a Hafis or repeater of the Koran, also held the office of Shahgassi, or Gentleman Usher to the King. Just before the advent of the Dane Mission at Kabul he was created an Itwad-ul-Dowlah or Pillar of the State. In his dual capacity he threw into the scales already settling against the Mission the whole weight of his influence, ultimately securing its complete discomfiture. He is not, perhaps, the most reliable prop to the policy and rule of his brother, since he aspires to the throne for himself; and, there is no doubt that when opportunity offers, he will make a bid for it. At the moment neither his plans nor his partisans are prepared, but events move with such swiftness in Afghanistan that no one can gauge more than approximately the varying fortunes of the situation. Serious family quarrels have compelled the Amir to exercise his authority in the arbitrary way common in Afghanistan. The first step
taken was in 1904, when the Omar Jar was deprived of his bodyguard, the men being sent back to their regiments. The next step was to remove him from his office as head of all Government officials, an appointment in which he had succeeded Nasr Ullah Kahn in 1902. These proceedings caused much excitement in the capital and public feeling increased when it became known that the Bibi Halima had refused to accept the allowance assigned to her for the upkeep of her household. Matters became further complicated by an incident which roused the Amir’s anger against the “Queen’s” faction. Omar Jar ordered the Master of the Horse to send him the favourite charger of the late Amir. This request was disregarded, and the unfortunate officer, on being summoned to give an explanation, was so maltreated by the Sirdar’s retainers that he died from his injuries. When news of these proceedings reached the ears of the Amir, the Bibi Halima and her son were directed to leave the palace where they had resided since the demise of Abdur Rahman, Habib Ullah finally decreeing that they should be confined to another residence, where they are practically state prisoners. His Highness is said to have asked two of the principal mullahs in Kabul to adjudicate upon the causes of the strained relations existing in his family; but, although a temporary compromise was established, no permanent reconciliation was obtained. It is necessary to study carefully the table of the Amir’s descent[36] to understand the precise position of affairs existing to-day in Afghanistan.
Even in Afghanistan women wield an influence over the affairs of the state, and its domestic policy is never without the disturbing effect of a jealous woman’s interference. Indeed, the sway of the harem in Court circles at Kabul is as pronounced as the power of the priests—a condition of affairs that is no small departure from the old order, when women and priests were relegated to the background. Since the ascent of the present Amir to the throne there have been changes in the army, in the state and in the harem. Three wives have been divorced—a woman of the Mohmund tribe; a woman from the Helmund country who had only been a few days in Kabul and the daughter of Saad-ud-Din Khan, Hakim of Herat, the will of the Kabul priests prevailing upon Habib Ullah to enforce the spirit of the Koran, which forbids the maintenance of more than four wives. The number
of concubines is unrestricted and the strength of the royal harem in this respect increases constantly, slaves of prepossessing appearance—in the service of the queens—being chosen. Their end is usually disastrous, and the hapless woman who, as a slave, excites the admiration of the Amir is generally—“removed.” The four wives who have survived this example of priestly authority are: (1) the mother of Aman Ullah; (2) Ulia Jancah (the daughter of Yusef Khan Barakzai, the favourite wife until recently—she is the mother of a daughter); (3) the daughter of Ibrahim Khan; and (4) the mother of Inayat Ullah. The child of Yusef Khan, Ulia Jancah, is known in the intimate circle of the harem as the Hindustani queen. She is a woman of education, charm and accomplishment. She reads and writes; as a former pupil of an Indian seminary, she also sings and plays the piano. She is no admirer of the Afghan ruler, his people, or the state; and it was the chance expression of this aversion which brought about her displacement.
[37]
Amir Dost Mahommed Khan Barakzai. Born 1774. Finally overthrew the power of the ruling Saddozai clan on the death of Shah Shujah, 1829. Died 1863.
Married a daughter of a Shia Rayi of Shalozan in Kuram, sister of Shah Hussein Mania, father of Shah Jehan of Kuram.
Amir Mahommed Afzul Khan. Died 1867. Married a daughter of a Popalzai Rayi of Koh-i-Daman, Haka Kabul, sister of Khwahaja Mahommed Khan, and of Sultan Mahommed Khan Popalzai.
Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. Born 1844. Refugee in Russian territory. 1869-79. Recognized as Amir 1880. Died October 1, 1901.
Married Gulriz, a slave girl from Wakhan.
Amir Habib Ullah Khan. Born at Samarkand, 1872. Succeeded as Amir in 1901.
Married a stepdaughter of Naib Salar Amir Mahommed Khan.
Inayat Ullah Khan. Born 1888. (4th Queen).
Married a stepdaughter of Shahgassi Mahommed Sarwar.
Aman Ullah Khan. Born 1890. (1st Queen).
Married a woman of the Mohmund tribe. (Divorced).
Married a woman from the Helmund country. (Divorced).
Married a daughter of Saad-ud Din Khan, Hakim of Herat. (Divorced).
Married a daughter of Sirdar Ibrahim Khan. (3rd Queen).
Married a daughter of Sirdar Mahommed Yusef Khan Barakzai. (2nd Queen).
Sirdar Nasr Ullah Khan. Born 1874.
Married Bibi Halima, daughter of Sahibzadeh Alik Ullah Khan, and grand-daughter, on the maternal side, of Amir Dost Mahommed Khan.
Sirdar Mahommed Omar Khan. Born 1889.
Married Staro, a Chitrali woman of no important family.
Sirdar Amin Ullah Khan. Born 1885.
Married a daughter of a Mir of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Sirdar Ghulam Ali Khan. Born 1889.
Amir Mahommed Azim Khan. Born (?). Died 1869. Married an Armenian of Kabul, a relative of Daniyal Khan.
Sirdar Mahommed Ishak Khan. Born 1840. A Refugee in Russian territory.
Married a daughter of Hajii Rahmet Ullah Khan Bamazai Popalzai.
Amir Shir Ali Khan. Born 1825. Succeeded as Amir 1863. Died 1879. Married Kamar Jan, sister of Saadet Kahn of Lalpura.
Mahommed Yakub Khan. Born 1852. Refugee in India since 1879.
Mahommed Ayub Khan. Born 1856. Refugee, first in Persia and then in India, since 1881.
Wazir Mahommed. Akbar Kahn.
Sirdar Ghula Haidar.
The woman now filling the position of chief queen is the mother of Aman Ullah. She has recently given birth to a daughter. At a more normal season she strikes an interesting contrast with the daughter of Yusef Khan. She is a woman of ungovernable passions, wilful, domineering, and capricious—an odd mixture of the termagant and the shrew. She has killed with her own hands three of her slaves who had become enceinte through their intercourse with the Amir, and she chastises personally her erring handmaidens, purposely disfiguring any whose physical attractiveness may appeal to their master. Her influence over the Amir, however, is limited. She sings and dances, but she lacks the subtle craft of the Bibi Halima and the gentle dignity of the Hindustani queen. The four wives of the Amir occupy positions which are graduated to a recognised scale. The first wife, the mother of Aman Ullah, draws an allowance of one lakh of rupees annually; the second wife, Ulia Jancah, the Hindustani queen, 80,000 rupees; the third wife, the daughter of Ibrahim, 20,000 rupees; and the fourth wife, mother of Inayat Ullah, 14,000 rupees a year. The first queen resides in the harem serai of the Shah Ara palace where the two principal concubines, the mothers of HayatUllah Khan[38] and Kabir Jan[39] and respectively former Badakshi and Tokhi slave-girls, are housed. The inmates of the harem are busy
people, occupying themselves in knitting, embroidery and other feminine pursuits. The chief wife has a sewing machine and with it makes clothes for her children. The Hindustani Queen, who is of royal birth, lives in great style. She is an ambitious woman and wears English dresses although it should be said that they are costumes in the fashion of thirty years ago. Each of the Amir’s married wives, as distinct from the concubines, has a separate house, where she lives with her children.
The Queen Dowager, Bibi Halima, the mother of Sirdar Mahommed Omar Khan, a woman of engaging personality, at one time held a position not without close resemblance to those filled by the Empress Dowager of China and the Lady Om, queen to the
Emperor of Korea. Her intrigues on behalf of her son were over-bold and she is now confined—her son, contrary to the energetic character of his mother, taking little interest in his situation. The Bibi Halima is a woman of considerable beauty, particularly intelligent and well informed. She is nearly forty-three years of age, and her sympathies are so distinctly British that her palace is regarded with as much suspicion as the British agency. The law of succession to the thrones in Mahommedan countries, apart from the exercise of opportunity which secures recognition upon the basis that might is right, entails the throne upon the son of the first woman whom the ruler may have married. The heir may be younger than sons born to other women, but, if such a marriage were the first alliance contracted by his father, the succession is seldom set aside. Abdur Rahman, however, departed from this custom as the Amirs of Afghanistan have power to appoint their successors.
Habib Ullah is the offspring of a Wakhan concubine named Gulriz with whom the Amir Abdur Rahman consorted. Bibi Halima, also the wife of Abdur Rahman, lays claim to it through her direct descent from the Amir Dost Mahommed Khan. She is of the Blood Royal indubitably; and, if she were in possession of her liberty, she would soon compel her son, Sirdar Mahommed Omar Khan, to take the field. His chances of success in any rebellion would be as great as those enjoyed by his half-brother, Nasr Ullah Khan, similarly a son of Gulriz and full brother to Habib Ullah. The disparity in the ages of these three sons of Abdur Rahman bears upon the present situation—Habib Ullah, born 1872, and Nasr Ullah, born 1874, being many years the senior of Mahommed Omar, who was born at Mazari-Sharif on September 15, 1889. By a strange irony, which may yet be not without its effect upon the succession to the throne, Inayat Ullah, the son of Habib Ullah and the lawful heir to the throne, was born in 1888, his uncle, the son of Bibi Halima and Abdur Rahman, being only six months younger.
(Translation.)
[40]The proclamation is addressed: “To the loyal-hearted nobles, to high and low, to all my subjects of the clans of Hazara.” After reminding the clansmen at some length that formerly they displayed some opposition and rebellion towards the State, the edict goes on to state the terms of the Amir’s clemency, which are as follow:
First As regards your lands which have till now been given to Afghans who have left their own districts for yours, I direct that hereafter your lands which are in your possession and which are cultivated and constitute your agricultural land are not to be given to alien immigrants.
Secondly. Persons who have been banished from this God-given kingdom and have fled to other parts are all hereby permitted and commanded to return to their own proper homes, and let them come with confidence Let all of these absentees as are of good position (Mir), or the descendants of such, come before me that I may see them and that their dwelling-place and that their means of living and residence may be well and appropriately arranged for Let all ranks of landlords and tenants be present at their homes. If their land has not yet been given to aliens, We direct that after this it shall not be given. Let them hold their own lands in peace and comfort. And to as many persons as have, previous to this order, transferred their lands to aliens and have not taken them back, in place of these transferred lands State lands of culturable quality will be granted from the area watered by the new canal, so that they may, please God, settle down in peace and comfort.
We also notify to those who have absconded beyond the frontiers of this God-given kingdom that if by the last month of this year they do not return to their homes, we shall not allow their lands to lie uncultivated. We direct that they shall be given over to alien cultivators.
This order applies to all clans of the Hazara But if the men of the three villages of Sheik Ali, Koh (namely, of Talah, in Barfak), and men of Chahar Sadah and the clan of Sultan who have absconded from this God-given State return home, we are pleased to bestow on them allotments of cultivated land in another place In these three villages named above land will not be given to them.
For the rest, for all the inhabitants of my kingdom I pray the Glorious God to grant a daily increase of peace and prosperity.
Given on Saturday, the 12th of Ramzan-ul-Mobarik, 1322, Hijreh (about the 17th of December, 1904).
Ultimately, there is some prospect of a struggle for the throne taking place between the uncle and his nephew. Each is a young man; but, although time may not temper their discretion, it does lie within the power of Habib Ullah to place the rights of his son beyond the reach of this particular rival candidate. In any case, and it is of interest to note it, Habib Ullah has gone out of his way to consolidate the position of his eldest son, Inayat Ullah. This he did by despatching him on the recent mission to India and appointing him Governor of Kabul, while Mahommed Omar shares the restricted liberty of his mother, and Hayat Ullah, born in 1890, the son of a Badakshi slave-girl and half-brother to Inayat Ullah, the heirapparent, has been appointed to Badakshan as Governor of the province. These facts are in reality only eddies showing the way that the current runs in Kabul, where from its complex nature the position may be described as shifting, delicate and treacherous as any quicksand. None the less the policy of the new Amir has been markedly benevolent; and his remission of certain taxes, his many acts of clemency to Afridi fugitives and his invitations[41] to Afghan refugees of noble or tribal families to return, reveal a great change in the controlling forces in Afghanistan. It is to us not a matter of gratification altogether, for it merely shows that the tribal leaders of noble families have lost their influence, that they can no more sway factions or parties in the population, and that power in Afghanistan is being gradually centralised around the Amir in a circle of officials which is controlled by the mullahs. The invitation to the refugees to come back is not out of any generosity of feeling; it arises from pride—and a desire to appear to be indulgent to those who are helpless and who are now impotent. In fact it is political charity, intended to spread the good name of the new ruler of Afghanistan in India, and to impress the British Government. It is a certain indication too, that, in the event of complications in the future with Afghanistan, the assistance of dissatisfied Sirdars will be of little value, for, in a few years if not very soon, the only elements will be the officials, the
bureaucracy and the mullahs. At the same time the power of the Amir himself has been reduced and transferred to the officials. The measures of Abdur Rahman prepared the way for this change. He either killed or frightened out of Afghanistan every rival or every individual likely to acquire influence. His declaration and boast was that his God-granted Government ruled for the benefit of the people and the glory of religion, that he had no object but the good of the country and no secrets from the people as he had no interests but theirs to serve. There is not amongst any class of Afghans the feeling of reverence for the throne which exists in Turkey or in Persia. The Amir is the highest official of a tribe, that has seized power; and Afghanistan is gradually evolving a bureaucratic Government controlled by priestly influence, whose policy will not always be measured by the interests of the country, but by whatever interpretations of the “Sheriat” some powerful mullah may conjure up.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan is acknowledged to be an independent Government within certain limitations. No Power has any right to interfere in its administration, although it is obvious that certain contingencies might alter its position in this respect. In the meantime, the Government of Afghanistan owes no national debt nor any war indemnity. The Amir is not hampered by any capitulations with Foreign Governments; he has no foreign ambassadors in his capital—although this is more a grievance than a pleasure to him, since he is anxious to vaunt his independence before the Courts of Europe.
The relations between Great Britain and Afghanistan as they stand to-day are fixed by treaties. The British Government acknowledges the independence of Afghanistan; it accepts responsibility for its safety and integrity against unprovoked aggressions, so long as the Amir does not act against the advice of the British Government in matters affecting his relations with other countries. Great Britain pays the Amir eighteen lakhs of rupees as an annual subsidy by virtue of Sir Mortimer Durand’s treaty with the Amir Abdur Rahman, dated 1893 and confirmed by Sir Louis Dane with the Amir Habib Ullah, 1904-1905; in addition to which she
permits Afghanistan to import without restriction supplies of war materials and to maintain a political agent at the Court of the Viceroy of India.
In return for this understanding with the Imperial Government, the Amir is bound by his word and treaties to be the friend and ally of Great Britain; he pledges himself not to communicate with any Foreign Power without consulting with the Indian Government, and to accept at Kabul a British Agent, who must always be a Mahommedan subject and provided solely with a native staff.
The British agent at Kabul holds an absolutely thankless position. He is shunned of necessity by Europeans in order to avoid giving rise to political suspicions, and he may see the Amir only in the public Durbars or by special appointment. To all intents and purposes he is a prisoner; since, although received in Durbar, he does not visit any one and seldom ventures into the street. If a European were seen speaking to the British Agent, or to any one attached to his staff, he would certainly be packed off at once to the frontier. No Afghan is allowed to enter the British Agency and no Englishman has visited the British Agent, since Sir Salter Pyne left Kabul. Even to be found near the building causes suspicion, as several Afghans have discovered. Moreover, since in many cases punishment has not ended merely with imprisonment, it has become an unwritten law to avoid the British agent and his entourage at any cost.
The British political agents at Kabul are appointed by the Indian Foreign Office, who forward to the Amir for his approval the names of a few Mahommedan officials. One of these candidates is selected, the term of office being from three to five years. Upon returning to India he is usually rewarded with the title of Nawab. The Agency staff consists of two secretaries, one hospital assistant, and about two or three dozen private servants and bodyguard, all of which must be natives of India. The British agent attends the public audiences of the Amir; but, if he has any letters or communications from the British Government to convey to the Amir, he must ask for an appointment to deliver them.
